


Memories in the Drift

by bottomlessblue



Category: Pacific Rim (Movies), She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Pacific Rim Fusion, Drift Compatibility, Gen, They love each other, and they will CANCEL THE APOCALYPSE, this crew was MADE for drift compatibility
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-07
Updated: 2018-12-07
Packaged: 2019-09-13 07:39:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,158
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16888380
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bottomlessblue/pseuds/bottomlessblue
Summary: Adora, Glimmer, and Bow are the triad pilots of the jaeger Swift Wind. When the kaiju Hordak threatens the coast of South America, the fight unearths some memories - good, bad, and ugly - for all three pilots.





	Memories in the Drift

Triad jaegers were never the norm - finding not just two but three drift compatible pilots was no easy feat. But when they were found and trained, they were among the most formidable fighters in the Pan Pacific Defense Corps. Adora knew this, conceptually, but even then it was something else entirely to look up at Swift Wind, the triple-piloted jaeger that she had not only helped engineer but pilot herself.

The oil-slick metal glinted in the dim light of the hangar, a rainbow of color sliding down the jaeger’s plated chassis. Of course she’d been the first to arrive when her team was called to fight; she’d been the only one with military experience before the kaiju came. She heard, rather than saw, Glimmer and Bow approaching, their boots landing heavily on the floor as they ran. She shook all thoughts of the past from her head; she couldn’t drift with her mind so occupied.

“Glad you could finally make it,” she said, not turning around, but a smile on her face. All three wore the white armor that would link them to the jaeger in but a moment’s time. Adora held her helmet under one arm; she fitted it over her head and nodded to the rest of the team. Together they strode down the walkway and entered into what would form the jaeger’s head when it was attached.

“What do you think it’s going to be this time?” Bow asked, stretching both arms behind him, shifting his weight from one foot to the other.

“I just hope it’s not another one with acid spit,” Glimmer said, face pale. “The last one nearly took out our whole right side; we barely made it back.”

Adora placed one hand, heavy in the thick gauntlet of her suit, on Glimmer’s shoulder. “It won’t be that bad again, I promise. Now let’s get focused; the sooner we get out there, the sooner we get back.”

All three stepped into their designated places in the cockpit - Bow to the left, Glimmer to the right, and Adora in the center. Their suits linked into the jaeger, clamps attaching to their feet, arms, and necks.

“Neural link ready,” the computer’s voice chimed from all around them.

“Ready to engage,” Adora said.

“Ready,” Bow followed.

“Ready,” Glimmer added after only a brief pause.

“Neural link engaged,” the computer confirmed as all three were swept into each other’s minds, a heady rush of memory, emotion, and tangled webs of thought. A roaring sound like the crash of a waterfall or the rush of wind through a forest surrounded them, temporarily drowning out all else. Within moments, the sensation passed as they acclimated once more to the drift.

As the jaeger was carried by heli-transport to the drop site, mission control finally chimed in, voice crackling throughout the cockpit. “Team Swift Wind - we’ve received alerts of a kaiju off the coast of Peru, codename Hordak, category 3. It hasn’t hit land yet, and we don’t think it will if you get there in time.”

“What type of visuals do we have?” Adora inquired. “Do we know what this thing looks like yet?”

“Not yet,” was the response from the shatterdome. “You’ll be the first to get eyes on this one.”

“Great,” she muttered. 

Bow grinned mischievously as he piped up, “Just think, maybe today we get to fight the world’s first kitten kaiju, or the first pony kaiju - no crabs or fish or lizard kaiju for us!” Adora and Glimmer couldn’t help but laugh; both were grateful at Bow’s ability to lighten the mood even when things looked bleak.

When they reached the drop site, the helicopter’s clasps disengaged, dropping Swift Wind feet first into the ocean. The three pilots scanned the nearby areas, looking in three different directions at once. Though it was pitch black at night, they used their own floodlights and the lights of the helicopters above to guide them. Glimmer spotted the creature first. “There!” she alerted the rest of the team.

They began to walk in that direction, looking for another glimpse of the enormous fin she’d seen peeking above the waves, the image fixed in all their minds through the drift. “Looks like we’re not getting so lucky on the fish kaiju,” Adora wryly pointed out. “I don’t think tha-” she was cut off as something big rammed into one of the jaeger’s legs, throwing off their internal balance.

As one, the pilots kicked out, punting the kaiju’s tremendous body away from them, leaving a wake through the dark water. They could just see it swimming towards them again; they braced for another impact, grounding the jaeger and lowering their center of gravity.

_\--- Adora grounded herself, legs apart, feet planted but light, fists up, ready for Catra’s blow. “You really think you can stop me?” she said, grinning wildly. “Come and try me.”_

_Catra leapt forward, claws digging in to the sandy training ground. She pivoted at the last second and came at Adora from the side, throwing the other girl off-balance. “Oh I’ll try you any day,” she retorted._

_Adora recovered her balance and threw a series of swift punches at Catra, who managed to duck all but the last. The last blow sent Catra spinning, wiping a trickle of blood from her mouth. She smiled menacingly, small fangs showing in her mouth. “Is that all you’ve got?” she asked as she lunged towards Adora again._

_Back and forth they sparred, neither truly taking the advantage, matched by the other’s skill. They continued until both girls were out of breath, both delighted by the test of their true abilities._

_Both startled when they heard the deep voice above them, “Very well done, girls - even you, Catra.” They looked up and saw Shadow Weaver standing on the raised observation platform above the training room. The sorceress began to descend the steps, walking slowly towards them as both girls bowed._

_“I can see you’ve both made excellent progress,” Shadow Weaver continued, voice full of pleasure. “Truly, our finest recruits. One of you might even make Marshal one day,” she added with a pointed glance at Adora. ---_

The kaiju Hordak struck them again, but this time they were ready for it and Swift Wind was too steady to be knocked off balance. Before it could retreat again, they grabbed it by the tail, planting even more solidly in the heavy sand.

Adora gritted her teeth as she grunted, “We can’t hold this thing forever!”

“We don’t have to!” Glimmer replied, sweat forming on her brow. “Release it on my mark!”

The kaiju struggled against their grasp, thrashing and flailing to get free. Glimmer perfectly timed the release; the beast’s own force and strength sent it slamming into the sea floor. The creature was briefly stunned, allowing Swift Wind to get a better grasp on the kaiju, though it did not cease to fight them.

Glimmer focused as she held the kaiju’s snapping jaws away from them, stopping it from biting through their heavy armor, with teeth that looked large and sharp enough to do the job.

_\---Glimmer reached out for the small turtle, which snapped its jaws at her as she approached. She managed to wrap her arms around the turtle’s shell, holding it just far enough away that it couldn’t reach her with its nasty beak._

_She squinted, scrunching up her face to concentrate, and tried to teleport back to the castle of Bright Moon. A sweat formed on her brow; she’d never brought another creature with her while teleporting before. She glowered at the turtle, then admitted defeat; today would not be the day either. She instead walked back to the castle, short legs carrying her far slower than she would have liked; the turtle was heavier than she’d anticipated._

_Her path into the castle was blocked at first by a squadron of guards - when they saw that it was the young princess, they parted for her to enter. “Thank you,” she said primly. “Are mother and father back yet?”_

_An exchange of looks that went over her head. “In the throne room,” one of the guards said eventually._

_Glimmer carried her new pet through the halls, not noticing the whispers that followed as she passed. If people parted for her, well, didn’t they always part for the princess of Bright Moon? If people spoke quietly, well, they were just being respectful, perhaps._

_She walked into the throne room and announced, “Mother, Father, I found a pet turtle and I’m keeping him and I’m naming him Grumpy.” She paused; her mother was there, surrounded by some of the other princesses, as she often was. Her father wasn’t here._

_A hush fell over the room as the young princess walked in. Queen Angella walked through the crowd of older princesses gathered and knelt in front of her. She had tears in her eyes; Glimmer didn’t know why. “Glimmer, dearest, something... something happened today. Something bad. Your father, he... he didn’t make it.” Tears began to spill from her mother’s eyes. “He won’t be coming back, sweetheart.” ---_

Hordak managed to wrest from Swift Wind’s grasp, swimming away from them as fast as it could go - at least, Bow hoped that was as fast as it could go.

“It’ll be coming back just as fast,” Adora warned. “I don’t know if we can stay up if we take another hit like that; our internal calibration’s all off.”

Glimmer shook her head. “We have to put more space between us and it.”

Adora refused sharply, “No, we can’t run away from it; we have to take the offensive. If we start playing defensive, it’ll win.”

Bow raised one of the jaeger’s arms; a faint hum began to pulse through the mech as the plasma cannon charged to its full power. “Then we’d better not let it get any closer,” he said softly, taking care to aim as precisely as he could.

He fired a burst from the plasma cannon, nailing the kaiju with a bolt of impossibly hot plasma.

_\--- “Bow, put that down; you’ll hurt yourself!” a gently scolding voice called from behind him. One of the guards had left behind a longbow and a quiver of arrows. He’d picked up one of the arrows, holding it up to the light to get a better look at the fletching._

_“Dad, I wasn’t doing anything!” he grumbled, but he put the arrow back regardless. He looked out the window of the small cottage and saw battle raging in the sky above. A squad of princesses attacked a force sent by the Evil Horde; even through the walls of the cottage he could hear the clash of weapons._

_“Don’t be afraid, Bow; the princesses will protect us. We’re safe here,” his father said, coming up and placing a hand on his shoulder. Reaching over Bow, he pulled the curtain closed, blocking his son’s view of the violence._

_“I’m not scared,” Bow asserted, crossing his arms. “This isn’t the first princess battle I’ve seen.”_

_“Well, then you know they always win,” his father said, sounding less sure than he intended to._

_When his father walked away, Bow stole another glimpse through a small gap in the curtain. He looked just as Netossa ensnared a group of Horde soldiers in one of her incredible nets._

_Bow looked over his shoulder to make sure that his father wasn’t looking, then took three arrows from the quiver. He rushed to his bedroom and stashed two of the precious arrows under his bed; he held the third in his hands, feeling how right it felt. He pulled a page out of a notebook and began to sketch an arrow launching a net, ensnaring an evil soldier just as Netossa had done. ---_

The trio of pilots saw that Hordak had stopped moving and walked the jaeger closer to the steaming corpse of the monster. Grimly, Swift Wind lifted the monster and broke its neck; you couldn’t trust that a kaiju would stay dead every time. 

“Kill confirmed,” she said, the radio crackling back to the shatterdome. “Come and get us.”

The two largest helicopters latched back onto Swift Wind, carrying the jaeger back to the base, while still other vessels bore down on where the kaiju had fallen, ready to collect samples for study.

Still connected by the drift, the jaeger’s crew were silent, knowing all the things they’d just seen in each other’s minds, everything felt, everything remembered, everything relived. When the link was disconnected, a sigh of relief went up in the cockpit.

Adora reached out to grab Glimmer and pull her closer into a tight hug. Bow wrapped his arms around both, holding them tight.

“I told you we’d make it back alright,” Adora said, voice strained, throat tight.

“I love you guys,” Glimmer said, a quaver in her words betraying her tears.

Bow closed his eyes as he squeezed them both around the shoulders. “I’m glad we’re home.”


End file.
